August 8, 2013 AT 4:00 am

3D-printed inchworm robot inspects power lines

Engineers from the University of California, San Diego have created this largely 3-D-printed V-shaped robot that, when scaled, could cost less than $1,000 each. It’s called the SkySweeper, and it inches its way along a cable sort of like a caterpillar, one arm pulling and then locking, followed by the next arm moving forward and then locking.